It was badly damaged in the 1948 War of Independence. Later, for nineteen years between 1948-67 it served as an Israel military outpost as it was on the frontier, near the Mandelbaum Gate, the only border crossing between Israel and Jordan.
In 1967 when the city was reunited and the barbed wire dismantled, the Tourjeman house was partially restored and converted into a museum devoted to demonstrating the destructiveness of war and the tragedy of a city divided for nineteen years. Some fortifications were left in place, and the scars of battle were left untouched.
From the roof, the panorama of Jerusalem serves as an introduction to the historical exhibits inside. All the major points of interest are clearly identified: Mount Scopus, the Mount of Olives, the Old City, 19th century Jewish neighbourhoods, (easily identified by their red-tiled roofs), and the minarets and church steeples of the city's Muslim and Christian neighbourhoods.
Inside the house are photographs, relief maps and documents illustrating Jerusalem's recent past.
